Get acquainted with Kharkov

This year the city of Kharkov celebrates its 355th anniversary. Set up as a fortress to protect the southern borders of the Russian state, it became over the years a major industrial, educational and scientific centre. With a population of 1.5 million, Kharkov is the second city of Ukraine in terms of size and industrial potential.

Historical background

In the 17th Century, the city became the site of many markets and steadily grew both as a focus fro trade and crafts and later as a centre of workshops and factories. By 1837 more than seventy manufacturing businesses had been established in Kharkov.

Kharkov is a city with a rich history. Here are just some parts of the story:

• Between 1917 and 1934 Kharkov was the first capital of Ukraine,
• Kharkov University was founded in 1805, making it one of the oldest in the CIS,
• The legendary Second World War tank the T-34, was produced in Kharkov,
• It was in Kharkov that the atom was first split in the USSR, only six months after this was achieved the by Englishmen John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton.

Freedom Square is one of the largest squares in the World, it is the site of the first high building to be built in the USSR – the House of State Manufacturing Enterprises.

The City today

Kharkov is the second city in Ukraine in terms of size and manufacturing potential. It is a city of students and science; more than 30 centres of higher education are situated here together with 67 scientific research institutes. With the breakup of the USSR, Kharkov manufacturing suffered great losses. A whole range of large factories ceased to exist, others survived equally difficult times. Turboatom has been one of the most successful, becoming one of the leading pipe manufacturing companies in the World.

The Kharkov region produces 60% of all tractors sold in Ukraine, 55% of ball bearings, 50% of computer controlled machine tools, 50% of electrical engines, and 45% of natural gas.

The City is expanding, a new airport is being built together with new hotels, transport infrastructure and sports facilities are being rebuilt.

KIPT

The Kharkov Institute of Physics and technology, KIPT, is one of the oldest and largest centres of physical science in Ukraine. It was founded in 1928 on the initiative of the famous physicist Abram Yoffe.

The Institute was founded to help develop nuclear physics and the physics of solid bodies, scientific areas which were, and still are, of great current interest. In 1932 the staff of the Institute achieved a remarkable result – the fissioning of the nucleus of the lithium atom. In 1931 the first cryogenic laboratory in the Soviet Union was established here. A world famous school of theoretical physics was set up within the walls of the Institute by one of the most talented physicists of the 20th century, Lev Landau, and the first volumes of the Landau & Livshits academic course were written here.

In the Soviet period a whole series of innovatory discoveries (to use a modern expression) were made here. These included, for example, radiolocation of moving objects, the first radiolocator with three coordinates in the Soviet Union, and the opening up of new areas of study in physics technology, for example, vacuum metallurgy. A large number of unique experimental facilities were established in the fields of fusion research, materials science, accelerators and plasma technology. From 1972, KIPT served as the lead organization in the USSR in the field of radiation materials science and radiation technology.

In Soviet times, some 6,000 staff worked in KIPT. The sharp drop in science funding which occurred after the breakup of the Soviet Union led to more than half of the members of staff having to find work outside of the Institute. The inflow of young recruits was sharply cut, leading to a generation gap among the staff of the Institute.

In 1993, to increase organizational flexibility, five scientific research institutes were created within KIPT, and KIPT itself became the first in Ukraine to receive the status of a National Scientific Centre. Little by little KIPT succeeded in stabilizing the situation with regard to the participation of staff members in international research projects, commercial contracts, and government funded scientific programmes.

Today, a significant part of KIPT’s scientific and technical activities are carried out through agreements with more than 70 foreign organizations from 15 different countries from around the world. KIPT provides scientific and organisational support for Government programmes involving over 40 Ukrainian organisations.

Area of scientific-production buildings – 172,300 square metres,
Staff members (2008) – 2511,
Members of the Academy of Science – 6,
Correspondent members – 8,
Doctors of Science – 81,
Candidates of Science – 302.

CNCP

KIPT’s involvement in CNCP began in 2005, when CNCP specialists reviewed some 30 possible projects. One of the things that this meeting brought was a recognition of the psychological gulf between the efforts of the originators of the projects to generate exclusively scientific results and the need to focus attention on the commercial aspects of their discoveries. As a result of these discussions, the first three projects were endorsed by CNCP. These later received £394,000 of funding from the Programme.

The CNCP Programme differed from other international programmes in that, in addition to its direct focus on commercialization and the creation of jobs for nuclear specialists, it at the same time worked to promote exchange of experience and to raise the level of skills of staff members in the fields of management, marketing, project management, and business English.

So far, three projects have already been completed. One of these involved the establishment of the state company Berylium, which is integrated into the structure of the Ukrainian National Academy of Science and is situated on the territory of KIPT. Beryllium is mainly involved in export oriented activities, fulfilling orders from Russia, Europe and the USA. Partners which brought additional production investment were found in the course of two of the projects.

In September 2006, a Commercialisation Unit was established in KIPT to provide systematic support for the process of commercialisation within KIPT. CNCP played an enormous part in this, including organizing internships in, and study tours to, Great Britain, seminars on the commercialization of different technologies, and management training with the LINK International Institute of Management.

The leadership of the Institute gave comprehensive support to the Commercialisation Unit both within the National Science Centre itself and in terms of external relationships.

All in all, it must be recognized that the collaboration between KIPT and the CNCP Programme has given a new impulse to the international activities of the Institute and has brought valuable practical experience in the processes of creating new manufacturing divisions. For that, we express our deep gratitude to those who represent CNCP.

Sergey Pugach,
CNCP Coordinator in KIPT, Head of the KIPT Commercialisation Unit